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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27359071">Of stormy nights and sorrows</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anvilrose/pseuds/Anvilrose'>Anvilrose</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>permanence [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Sibling Acquisition, Bruce Wayne Tries, Bruce Wayne's A+ Parenting, Cass Centric, Cass appreciation, Cass love - Freeform, Cass needs a hug, Cass totally meant it - Freeform, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Cassandra Cain-centric, Damian Wayne Has Issues, Damian Wayne Has a Heart, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, He's just not good at it - Freeform, Overprotective Bruce Wayne, at least on damian's part - Freeform, but - Freeform, cass speaks asl, cassandra cain is a good sibling, modern problems require modern solutions, so they hug each other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:42:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27359071</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anvilrose/pseuds/Anvilrose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A blow out fight leaves a hurt Damian and an indifferent bat family. Cass sees what happend from a different perspective though, and she just might be able to help!!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bruce Wayne &amp; Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain &amp; Bruce Wayne, Cassandra Cain &amp; Damian Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>permanence [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000944</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Cassandra Cain</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of stormy nights and sorrows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A blow out fight leaves a hurt Damian and an indifferent bat family. Cass sees what happend from a different perspective though, and she just might be able to help!!</p><p>Edited on November 4th for grammar, Comment down below if you want another part to this.<br/>I have maybe 3 more cass fics in my drive and their kind of 7 page monsters. (2 fluffs and a heart-beaker)<br/>If it turns out people actually like my writing I'll post them!<br/>Im really not a beginner to writing and have had things published--But this is my first fanfiction, so any and all critiques are welcome!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The night was dark and stormy. Of course all nights in Gotham were dark and stormy, but this one seemed to be particularly vengeful, pummeling the ground with strong whips of water, and throwing saplings like ragdolls. Causing chaos in homeless shelters as vagabonds scrambled for a place with walls and windows. The rain was so great that it had caused all the usual suspects to run for shelter, emptying the streets faster than black bats glare ever could - Cass was just a little jealous. But no crime meant no vigilantes, and dad would never put his kids out in a hurricane just to save some cats in trees. </p><p>“But father, you can’t be serious! Rain should be no match for a warrior of my caliber!” Cass didn’t understand the words but she could feel the insult behind them.<br/>
Jason started in too, desperate to get out of the manor “Yeah b we’ll be fine! You can’t keep us here anyway! I am a grown ass adult”<br/>
Dad grunted, his standard response for any kind of disobedience. </p><p>Turning his back to the 11 owlish eyes boring holes into his head, he went back to sorting the batarangs tutting as he did.<br/>
Then there was silence, it was long and she didn’t like it. Too long, too quiet for too long, something bad was going to happen, she could tell. She shifted uneasily on her perch, preparing to move at the first sign of trouble. She did want another argument there had been to many already.<br/>
It was oppressive.<br/>
Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. And oh! Steph finally broke, she had been expecting it (steph may as well have been screaming her intention) but the loud noise still startled her<br/>
“Oh my god Bruce! Will you speak in sentences for once in your goddamn life!”<br/>
Bruce-dad tensed unnoticeably and she watched him with a closer eye from her nest on the banister. He prepared himself as if to give a speech, but only managed to spit out “Its cold, and nobodys out there anyway. The last thing we need is one of you getting sick.”<br/>
Silence, silence that stretched out miserably and then…. “I’m gonna go play among us, anyone want to join?”<br/>
“Oh my god Duke read the room”<br/>
“Oh shut up duke some of us are actually are actually used to not spending the night scaring the crap out of our neighbors and work 9-5 like a normal person” </p><p>Huh she thought neighbor…neghibor…“Ne-i-gh-b-or” she mouthed the word, (And what a word), neighbor she concluded must mean criminal.<br/>
In her distraction her siblings had disappeared and she shifted uneasily. She had let her walls down too far, and lost track of her family. That would need to be amended. </p><p>Now, the two loneliest residents were left to brood in silence--plus one of course, when those two were alone it was always with a hidden plus one.<br/>
Dad still leaned over the table, gripping it with both hands like his life depended on it.<br/>
He was worried, that much was obvious to anyone, It was all over  his face.<br/>
But Cass knew better than to take it at face value, she examined other parts too. Everyone relied on faces too much she thought, when they really didn’t tell you that much. It was better to look at muscle; muscle, skin, and bone, they tell you the whole story.<br/>
He was worried, but it was more than that. He was….scared, his whole body screamed “PROTECT!” as if he had tooo…he had tooo… oh what was it he had to .. yes! He had to shield them! He had to shield them, his body yelled “PROTECT!” He stood like he was the last person between evil and family.<br/>
What a silly thought! He didn’t need to worry, she would always stand between evil and family.<br/>
“tt”<br/>
Dad sighed, “Father while I understand your decision to preserve the health of your soldiers, it should go without being said that I will be joining you tonight”<br/>
Dad’s nostrils flared, his arms tensed, and his feet shifted into a wider stance - a fighting stance.<br/>
Oh no, bad, bad, bad, bad. Dad…no…Batman slammed the batarang on the table, and turned to Damian,<br/>
“And why? Why is that Damian? Why do you constantly have to put yourself into danger just to prove your worth? You are not a soldier! You have never been a soldier! Your siblings are not soldiers!" Batman took a step forward pointing his finger towards Damian.<br/>
“YOU are an angry CHILD and if I was anyone else, you would be in bed by now. But I don’t make you. I LET you be robin, because I thought it would be good for you, But maybe I shouldn’t have” </p><p>Dad sighed and turned back to the table. The tension left his shoulders, and he slumped. He was more “SAD!” then angry, he was hurt and the “PROTECT!” crumbled into "Regret!", Cass looked the other way.<br/>
Dad was calming down but Damian was just getting started, he let out an angry shriek.<br/>
Flashes of a memory danced across his face, dimming his eyes,, setting his mouth, and furrowing his brow until he was a mirror of Dad,but one filled by “SAD!“ not “PROTECT!” “You underestimate me father, I am the heir to the dragon. I have already received more training then Brown ever will! I wield a sword better than Thomas can! Yet you insist on keeping these deadweights around despite their worthlessness!”<br/>
She inched closer, bad, this was bad, it was bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, ba-“SLAM!”<br/>
Dad dropped the Batarang and whirled around, murder in his eyes.<br/>
“No, no, you don’t get to speak about your siblings that way! You are not better than them! NO ONE is better than them! Stephanie could lift you over her head like you were nothing! Duke saves dozens of people everyday, no, you don’t get to speak about them that way. They earned their place here!”<br/>
Damian was scared now. He curled in on himself, radiating sadness.<br/>
“Get out!” Dad grit out in the silence<br/>
“GET OUT NOW!”<br/>
then the sound of fleeting footstep and a depressed sigh.<br/>
She came out of the shadows, she had hid long enough. She let her feet touch the ground just long enough to let it be known that she was there and left, leaving a whisper of a touch on the shoulders of her father, and a simple string of signs pressed into her fathers back<br/>
“Not mad at little brother, mad at the people who made him that way.” A sorrow comfort but a comfort nonetheless.</p><p>She bade her time and lied in wait, it would be no use to comfort him now when he was still upset. So instead she made use of her freedom, wandering the halls in search of her siblings, changing day clothes into pajamas, tinkering and going through her positions.<br/>
When at last she deemed it time, she made her way over to the vent. It lifted easily off the wall, the screws that held it there having long since been removed. Even easier though, was climbing into it, the vents were from the original part of the manor-meaning they were huge and someone as small as Cass had no trouble fitting in them. What was a struggle though, was stealth, she found after many tries that walking on the palms of her hands worked best. So that was how Cass moved, arriving steadily in a vertical shaft that required only 2 quick bounds to clear.<br/>
She landed elegantly as all ways, and nearly looked to Cain for approval before she remembered that she was not there, that she was safe. Well, as safe as you can be perched precariously on a loose rafter in a 300 year old attic.<br/>
Quietly, she padded along and picked up the sniveling mess that was Damian and made her way back to sanctuary. He would sleep through it, she had made sure of it, a journey through the vents would be bumpy and she was sure he would not want to be seen in the hallway like this. </p><p>Cass dumped him in the middle of her rug and returned back to her tinkering waiting for him to awaken.<br/>
It took twenty minutes for him to stir, and in the meantime she was treated to the sounds of war and horror sprouting from the mouth of a child.<br/>
When he finally did wake up, he was angry. “Where the hell am I Cain?” </p><p>He looked around bewilderedly before considering her; she knew he was afraid of her. She was the only fighter he had ever been taught to respect “the one who was all” A myth, a monster, a begrudged ally, but not a sister, never a sister. This was yet another thing she had to fix.<br/>
She becond him forward with her hand, keeping her eyes carefully on her working hands. He approached cautiously and sat</p><p>“Cain”<br/>
“little brother”<br/>
“I am not your brother"<br/>
“and I am not a cain” it was a stalemate neither would relent so she switched topics<br/>
“Come help”<br/>
“And why would I? I owe you nothing.” she paused<br/>
“Because you are tired, but you will fight sleep. Come little brother, help”<br/>
“tt fine”<br/>
He scooted closer, sitting barley a foot away from her now. For the first time, he looked at the diorama, and she, him. The display was sprawling, an exact replica of Wayne manor and its grounds, scaled down to size. It was placed on a low custom fit dining table, one barley the height of a Japanese tea table (similar to one Cass could remember from her childhood). The house wasn’t finished of course, that would be no fun if it was finished; and while some would say it was “good enough” (like Babs when she wanted Cass to spend her time reading or writing) she would not compromise, it had to be perfect. </p><p>“What would you like to build little brother” Damian paused and she saw fear flash across his face. Ahh so decisions scared him, she could work with that<br/>
“How about we do the menagerie”<br/>
“why?”<br/>
“Its not done and you know it best” Damian scrunched his brown frustrated at not being understood<br/>
“No why come and get me? Why build this? And if you care for it so much why let me help you?” </p><p>She turned to him, in her stupor she had neglected to look at him and she cursed herself for it. She stumbled, she had to do something, but she was lost at what to do, he needed words, she had none of those. He needed signs, she had many but it felt like not enough. So instead she settled for a hug and found she herself satisfied with it<br/>
“I love my little brother even if he does not love me, I am hurt and he is hurting so we will hurt together.” She paused and took a steadying silent breath, closing her eyes, and retreating back into herself.<br/>
“I came here, and the world was big and loud. Too much too quickly. I was expected to talk to understand the way they communicate. Their language. But no one tried to understand mine. I know bodies not words. You came here and you knew words, but you did not know bodies. No one acknowledged that. You struggle, you have no Babs, so I will be your Babs.”<br/>
They were crying now. His body was racked with sobs, and he was taking deep shuddering breaths, giving in he fell into another hug, crying loudly into her shoulder.<br/>
He cried for his mother, he cried for the sister and cousin he lost, he cried for the pain he caused his new family, the hatred they felt towards him, and the pain he felt, most of all he cried for the world he had lost and his place in it. </p><p>When he finally stopped, he was empty, a husk of the great Al Ghul heir remained, sniveling in the arms of a bastard child. He had been fractured, chipped away at every day, until even the pieces he held most dear fell away leaving a sad small child.<br/>
Finally she broke the silence holding his face in between his hands “When my world was too big, I made it small, and that way my monsters seemed smaller. They all have ways of dealing with their monsters, they lock them in caves and they lock them in their hearts. It doesn’t work. Don’t do it. Little brother, we must instead find a way to make your world small”<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bruce is a good parent, stuff just gets lost in translation.<br/>this fic is based of some head cannons i Made here<br/>https://and-the-world-is-quiet-here.tumblr.com/post/632185691093270528/batfam-head-canon-vol-1<br/>https://and-the-world-is-quiet-here.tumblr.com/post/632256347566637056/damians-bedroom-damians-bedroom-is-huge-it-has?is_related_post=1<br/>come check me out on tumblr!!!<br/>If you have any suggestions message me! ask's are always open!</p><p>Edited on November 4th for grammar, Comment down below if you want another part to this.<br/>I have maybe 3 more cass fics in my drive and their kind of 7 page monsters. (2 fluffs and a heart-beaker)<br/>If it turns out people actually like my writing I'll post them!<br/>Im really not a beginner to writing and have had things published--But this is my first fanfiction, so any and all critiques are welcome!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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